Ever since I read Vogel’s description of the message learning approach to persuasion, I have been looking for additional sources of information about the subject. The components of message learning are 1) attention; 2) comprehension; 3) yielding or agreement; and 4) retention. All of these are necessary in order for action to result… and action is the proof that persuasion has occurred.
A few weeks ago, I ran across Robert Cialdini’s book “Influence“. In this book, Cialdini describes what he calls the “6 Weapons of Influence”. His weapons are actually 6 categories of triggers that have a tendency to start “fixed-action patterns” in us humans. Cialdini attempts to alert us to the ways in which “compliance professionals” try to trigger automatic responses from their audiences. The six categories these devices fall into are:
Reciprocation - How a free gift makes us vulnerable to undue influence
Commitment and Consistency - Even a small commitment makes us act consistent with that committment
Social Proof - How we look to others when we are uncertain
Liking - The unsettling power of attractiveness
Authority - How we tend to obey perceived authority
Scarcity - Everything seems more valuable when there is less of it available
Part of Cialdini’s purpose is to alert readers to the ways in which unscrupulous people attempt to exploit these triggers for their own purposes.
There are of course also legitimate uses of these principles when attempting to persuade an audience.
This is one of the best researched books I have read in a while, and Cialdini provides complete documentation for all the information he presents. All his claims are backed up with studies… many of them at the same time amazing and disconcerting.
Posted by Robert Befus in Presentation Design, Sales and Marketing
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